First Evidence of Comet Striking Earth Found

An artist’s rendition of the comet exploding in Earth’s atmosphere above Egypt 28 million years ago.

Terry Bakker

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Dozens of videos of the Russian meteor were uploaded to Youtube soon after impact on the morning of Feb. 15, 2013, many of which originated from vehicle dashboard cameras (or "dash cams"). During the morning commute many drivers saw the bright orb grow and explode in the atmosphere. The resulting shock wave caused windows to blow out over a huge area injuring over 1,000 people -- mainly cuts and minor concussions.

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The fireball light was as bright as a second sun for a brief moment before it broke up over the Urals region of Russia.

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As seen in this CCTV footage, the meteor created its own shadows as it exploded during the morning commute.

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The meteor contrail hung over the Urals city of Chelyabinsk, about 900 miles east of Moscow, for some time after impact.

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A white contrail left by the meteor break-up over Chelyabinsk.

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A building damaged by the meteor shock wave in the town of Kopeisk, Chelyabinsk Region. The windows were blown out by the powerful shock wave generated by the hypersonic meteor.

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Damage to a pancake bar caused by the shock wave of a meteor in the town of Kopeisk, Chelyabinsk Region.

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Damaged caused to the office of a local newspaper in the Urals city of Chelyabinsk by the shock wave of the meteor.

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A shopper walks past a broken shop window caused by the meteor explosion over the Urals city of Chelyabinsk.

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The meteor traveled faster than sound in the upper atmosphere, creating a powerful sonic boom that slammed into the populated Urals region -- the foce of the blast blew out windows and caused structural damage to some buildings.

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Damage caused by the shock wave of a meteor that passed above the Urals city of Chelyabinsk on Feb. 15, 2013.

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Bricks from a factory wall knocked down by the force of the meteor shock wave litter a street in the Urals city of Chelyabinsk.

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A collection of small meteorite fragments found in the snow after the Feb. 15, 2013 airbust event.

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A man holding meteorite fragments found near the Chebarkul Lake.

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Detail of one of the suspected meteorite fragments recovered from Russia's Chelyabinsk region.

This image shows Tutankhamun's brooch, which celebrates the ancient Egyptian pharaoh with a dazzling scarab made of yellow silica glass, which scientists say was likely formed from a comet impact millions of years ago.

University of the Witswatersrand

"It’s a typical scientific euphoria when you eliminate all other options and come to the realization of what it must be," study lead author Jan Kramers, of the University of Johannesburg in South Africa, said in a statement. (Best Close Encounters of the Comet Kind)

The pebble, which the team has named "Hypatia" in honor of the ancient female mathematician, astronomer and philosopher Hypatia of Alexandria, is also studded with diamonds, which makes sense considering its cometary origin, researchers said.

"Diamonds are produced from carbon-bearing material," Kramers said. "Normally they form deep in the Earth, where the pressure is high, but you can also generate very high pressure with shock. Part of the comet impacted, and the shock of the impact produced the diamonds."

This impact occurred about 28 million years ago over Egypt, study team members say. The comet exploded in the atmosphere, heating the sand below to a temperature of 3,630 degrees Fahrenheit (2,000 degrees Celsius) and generating huge amounts of yellow silica glass across 2,317 square miles (6,000 square kilometers) of the Sahara Desert.

One piece of this silica glass even found its way into a brooch that belonged to the famous Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamen, researchers said.

Comets have almost certainly struck the Earth many times over the planet's long history. But before the Hypatia pebble's origin was determined, tiny dust particles in the upper atmosphere and carbon-rich dust in Antarctic ice were the only cometary material known on Earth, researchers said.

Comets are leftover pieces from the formation of the solar system 4.5 billion years ago, so the new discovery could have valuable scientific applications as well as gee-whiz appeal.

"NASA and ESA (European Space Agency) spend billions of dollars collecting a few micrograms of comet material and bringing it back to Earth, and now we’ve got a radical new approach of studying this material, without spending billions of dollars collecting it," Kramers said.

The study will be published in an upcoming issue of Earth and Planetary Science Letters. Three of the co-authors will also discuss the finding today (Oct. 10) during a public lecture at the University of the Witswatersrand in Johannesburg.

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